Ainslee's Story!!

The birth story this time around seems so much less.....interesting. Maybe because it was calm & there was no chaos involved. Regardless, here it is:

Quick Version:

Friday (June 22) at 11 am: Midwife appt. dilated to 3 and membranes stripped
Friday at 3:30 pm: Irregular Contractions
Friday at 10 pm: Contractions are regular and stronger
Friday at 11ish pm: On our way to the hospital
Saturday at 1:00 am: Admitted and dilated to 6.5 (90% effaced)
Saturday at 3:00 am: Epidural
Saturday at 6:00 am: Checked and dilated to 10 but baby's head was still floating. Had my water Broken.
Saturday at 7:10ish am: 2 little pushes
Saturday at 7:13 am: Baby is here!! (see below for stats and name)

Full Version:

 I saw my midwife on Friday morning (June 22) hoping to be dilated a little bit (the week before I was nothing). I asked her to strip my membranes and she did what little there was to strip. She said there wasn't a lot of membranes left since I was dilated to a 3 and the water sac was already bulging. She gave me high hopes of going into labor within the day and said she would be surprised if I went much longer. YAY! That was great news.

I went home, mopped the floor, made some dinner, and even made cookies. Irregular, light contractions began at about 3:30 pm but that had been happening randomly for days so I wasn't convinced that they would lead to the real thing. At about 9 I started getting a few strong contractions amidst the little ones but had all but given up hope of going into labor. 10 pm came along and I decided it was time for bed because the contractions had stopped. I went upstairs and noticed a tiny bit of show...so little that I brushed it off to the membrane stripping. Then the contractions started up again and were stronger but lasted only about 45 seconds each one. I had no idea if it was real labor or not.

Brett and I timed the contractions for an hour before I finally decided it was best just to go to the hospital. I called a friend and luckily she was able to come over and stay with the kids. By the time she got there, my contractions were strong enough that I had to breath through them. It was all so weird because I had never labored like that before (where it started with light easy contractions and progressed slowly). I still wasn't sure I was actually in labor and figured they would send me home once I was triaged.

We got to the hospital, into triage and I was checked at 1:00 am. Dilated to a 6.5 and 90%. No going home for me. At that point I was really happy to be in the hospital because I expected to go pretty quickly from then on. I also requested the epidural even though I was doing really good with the contractions. After the last 2 really chaotic and honestly terrible birthing experiences, I was too scared to go natural again.

Epidural was placed at 3:00 am and it was fantastic. I could move, but the pain was gone!! So nice and I wondered why I even toyed with the idea of going natural again. I know Brett was relieved too so he didn't have to watch me writhing in pain :).

They didn't check me again until about 6:00 am and by that time I was fully dilated but my water hadn't broken and was just bulging through. The baby's head wasn't able to move down so the midwife broke my water. An hour later I gave 2 little pushes and the baby pretty much flew out. Seriously. The cord was wrapped around her neck once and she was kind of purple and wasn't breathing really well so after holding her for a while, they took her to make sure she was ok.

STATS: 6 lbs 6 oz (my babies get smaller & smaller)

               20 inches long

After 9 months of having no idea what we will name this little girl, it ended up being an easier task then we expected and we had her named soon after she was born. We chose:

Ainslee Harper 

It fits her perfectly. Ainslee was not number one on either of our lists, but it should have been because I LOVE it now. I get a lot of compliments, but I also get a few odd looks from people when they hear her name. Inevitable I suppose, and I don't really care :)

             

Dilated to 6.5 and still smiling....pretty proud of myself (but I knew the epidural was on it's way)

Born at 7:13 am

Delivering with a Midwife (on the left....baby nurse on the right) was great!! Her answer to everything was "Whatever you want!"

DAD!

Proud sisters & Brother

Love my kids!

So sweet

Tiny in her carseat

Leaving the hospital as a family of 6!!!

What I have learned this time around.......
-No 2 deliveries are the same!!!!
-Going natural is over-rated and epidurals are amazing! (OK, in an ideal world, I would be able to tolerate the pain of natural childbirth.....but between my 2 epidural deliveries, & my 2 natural deliveries, I only have anxiety when I think about the natural ones. Not to mention, my recovery was much better this time around than it was with Easton.)
-Pregnancy and babies are stressful. I am a hypochondriac and every little symptom almost always means something is terribly wrong (in my mind)
-I hate hospitals.....but I guess I knew that the first time I delivered a baby
-I am never going to have a bald baby :)